Xavier de Soultrait: “It was quite a big crash and the car was on the roof”

Dakar 2026 | Stage 8 | WADI AD DAWASIR > WADI AD DAWASIR
January 12 ^th 2026 - 17:48 [GMT + 3]

Trailing by almost three quarters of an hour this morning after initial mechanical problems yesterday, a prang on the day’s special with Bruno Saby cost him a further forty minutes. This evening, De Soultrait is at the foot of the podium, 1:25’’11 behind the leader.

 “It was super tough. We met Bruno Saby in a bad situation. He was looking for a waypoint, I think, because we were overtaking him. When we passed, he braked and turned in front of us so we couldn’t avoid the crash. It was quite a big crash and the car was on the roof. Fortunately, we found a good friend, Alex Pesci, to help us put the Polaris back on its wheels, but it is super strong because we didn’t break anything. Though after an incident like this, we had to pay attention to the oil and everything. It’s not finished, we still have some long days before we arrive at the end and we will try to put two Polaris on the podium”.